Assessment of Surgical Effects on Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is one of the most common sleep disorders. To treat patients with this health problem, it is important to detect the severity of this syndrome and occlusion sites in each patient. The goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that the cure of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome by maxillomandibular advancement surgery can be predicted by analyzing the effect of anatomical airway changes on the pressure effort required for normal breathing using a high-fidelity, 3-D numerical model.

Computational fluid dynamic analysis of the posterior airway space after maxillomandibular advancement for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Purpose: This study evaluated the soft tissue change of the upper airway after maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) using computational fluid dynamics.

Materials And Methods: Eight patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome who required MMA were recruited into this study. All participants underwent pre- and postoperative computed tomography and then MMA by a single oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

A computational study of injury severity and pattern sustained by overweight drivers in frontal motor vehicle crashes.

The objective of this study was to examine the role of body mass and subcutaneous fat in injury severity and pattern sustained by overweight drivers. Finite element models were created to represent the geometry and properties of subcutaneous adipose tissue in the torso with data obtained from reconstructed magnetic resonance imaging data-sets. The torso adipose tissue models were then integrated into the standard multibody dummy models together with increased inertial parameters and sizes of the limbs to represent overweight occupants.

Comparison of a novel surface laser scanning anthropometric technique to traditional methods for facial parameter measurements.

This study was designed to determine if three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning techniques could be used to collect accurate anthropometric measurements, compared with traditional methods. The use of an alternative 3D method would allow for quick collection of data that could be used to change the parameters used for facepiece design, improving fit and protection for a wider variety of faces. In our study, 10 facial dimensions were collected using both the traditional calipers and tape method and a Konica-Minolta Vivid9i laser scanner.

Patient-Specific Geometry Modeling and Mesh Generation for Simulating Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome Cases by Maxillomandibular Advancement.

The objective of this paper is the reconstruction of upper airway geometric models as hybrid meshes from clinically used Computed Tomography (CT) data sets in order to understand the dynamics and behaviors of the pre- and postoperative upper airway systems of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) patients by viscous Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The selection criteria for OSAS cases studied are discussed because two reasonable pre- and postoperative upper airway models for CFD simulations may not be created for every case without a special protocol for CT scanning. The geometry extraction and manipulation methods are presented with technical barriers that must be overcome so that they can be used along with computational simulation software as a daily clinical evaluation tool.

Finite element model development of a child pelvis with optimization-based material identification.

A finite element (FE) model of a 10-years-old child pelvis was developed and validated against experimental data from lateral impacts of pediatric pelves. The pelvic bone geometry was reconstructed from a set of computed tomography images, and a hexahedral mesh was generated using a new octree-based hexahedral meshing technique. Lateral impacts to the greater trochanter and iliac wing of the seated pelvis were simulated.

Hemodynamic analysis of a compliant femoral artery bifurcation model using a fluid structure interaction framework.

The influence of wall motion on the hemodynamic characteristics of the human femoral bifurcation and its effects on the development of peripheral artery disease has not been previously investigated. This study aimed in investigating the hemodynamics of a compliant patient-specific femoral artery bifurcation model by a fluid structure interaction (FSI) scheme. The complex physiological geometry of the femoral artery bifurcation was reproduced from sequentially obtained transverse CT scan images.